Means for flooding vessels



UNITED STATES PATENT omnes.

n- JOHN QUIGLY, OF SAUGERTIES, NEW YORK.

MEANS FOR FLOODING- VESSELS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 18,411, dated October 13, 1857.

To all whom t may Concern.'

Be it known that I, Jol-IN QUIGLY, of the town of Saugerties, county of Ulster, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Flooding Ships and other Vessels, Mainly Designed for Extinguishing Fires; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference be* ing had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters marked thereon.

My invention consists in so arranging a tube in relation to a chamber in the hold of the-vessel, and open to the water in which the vessel floats, that the tube may be detached from t-he chamber by any person on the deck and the water have free admission within the vessel or the tube may serve as a conduit through which, by means of a pump aixed to its upper end, water may readily be drawn up to the deck of the vessel and distributed therefrom as may be needed.

To enable others skilled in matters to which my invention relates to construct and use the same I will describe the construction, arrangement and operation of the means embraced therein.

Figure l, of the drawings of this application represents the means applied to a two decked vessel and Fig. 2, the means alone.

In both figures the same letters refer to like parts.

A, indicates the chamber, which may be of any shape required, and which in the drawing is represented as an expansion of the tube, and which may be secured to the bottom of the vessel covering a hole of suftlcient size, by any known means.

B, indicates the tube connected by a screw thread H, upon the upper end of the chamber and lower end of the tube, which tube extends to the upper deck of the vessel and has att-ached to it a hand turning wheel, E, and which on its upper end has also a screw thread, K, shown in the drawing surrounded by a cap D, but designed for the attachment of the pumps stem or hose when a pump is used.

C, indicates the brace or supports to the tube which may be constructed as shown or which may be of any other form and attached at other points as may be preferred.

It will be perceived that in case of tire in the hold of the vessel, arising from whatever cause, that any person on the deck can by turning the wheel unscrew the connection between the chamber and the tube and thus admit rapidly water into the hold, and in case it is desired to limit the quantity of water thus admitted that by turning the wheel in the opposite direction the flow of the water can instantly be checked. It will be noticed also that when t-he tube and chamber are connected a conduit exists to the deck of the vessel and that by attaching the pump or a hose to the top of the tube water may easily be drawn up the tube and distributed to every part of the deck or thrown down into the hold as the occasion may require. The screw connection marked, I, affords the same facilities for obtaining water by the use of the pump at points intermediate above the water line or line of tloatation and the deck, as well as for the admission of the water at points below the line of flotation; and any number of such screw connections may be made and at dierent points of the tube as may be desirable. These screw connections at different points will be very serviceable in vessels having cargoes liable to fire from spontaneous combustion or from other causes.

It will readily be seen that in adapting my invention to vessels the form and proportion of the means can be made such as will best answer for the peculiarities of the construction or build of the vessel and that such further variations in arrangement may be made as will best adapt the means to the particular part of the vessel to which it may be desirable to attach the chamber and tube.

Having thus fully, clearly, and exactly described the construction and operation of my invention, what I claim as of my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent The arrangement of the tube and chamber in relation to each other, to their parts and connections and to the vessel substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

JOI-IN QUIGLY.

IVitnesses lV 'r'rHEw OSTERHAUDI, GARRET M. I-IoMMnL. 

